I Am a Demon
written by: Stephen Herczeg
“Ooga booga.”
The group of small children dressed as witches, princesses, and vampires, screamed as one. Some of the smaller ones ducked behind their mothers’ legs and spied back at the sight before them. One of the mothers looked a little shocked, before her face broke into a wide smile. A couple of the others simply chuckled to themselves while consoling their frightened children.
The lone father, providing a shield for his little vampire, stuck his cigarette in his mouth and clapped lightly, making sure not to spill the can of beer in his other hand. “Bitchin’ costume, dude. Bitchin’.”
Billy dropped his clawed hands and made a little bow. “Thank you, thank you for being a wonderful audience.” Upon seeing the monstrous figure before them act more like a human, the children drew themselves from behind parents’ legs and simply stared at the teenager.
Hidden by the prosthetic appliances covering his face and mouth, a wide smile broke out on Billy’s face. The costume worked. It was as scary as hell, well, at least to tiny children. Now he simply hoped it would be convincing to his fellow partygoers.
Six weeks ago, when Ash had put the call out for the biggest, bestest Halloween party in years, Billy’s mind had switched into overdrive. There would be babes galore, it was Ash after all. Billy had been part of Ash’s circle since they were in junior high. He wanted to impress not just Ash, but every single person at the party.
The question became: What costume would be the best?
The internet suggested that Halloween was a pagan celebration for the onset of winter. It was seen as the one day of the year when the veil between worlds became its thinnest, allowing monsters from Hell to make their way amongst the living.
“A demon. It has to be a demon. But the most gnarliest and horrifying demon ever.”
Then came six weeks of hard work. Billy took over the garage, consigning his parents’ cars to the driveway. The walls became lined with printed images and drawings. Historic demons. Movie stills. Architectural designs for the many parts of his costume. He learnt new techniques for moulding latex foam, bonding the various parts, prepping, sealing, painting.
And then it was finished.
It was only now, after spending four hours applying the prosthetics, body parts, makeup, latex, and paint, did he realise that nobody would recognise him, and he could hardly be heard. Drinking was out of the question, and that was a good thing, because going for a pee was an almost impossible act.
But he looked incredible. Standing before his full-length mirror, he couldn’t help but blurt out, “I am a demon.”
And those kids thought he was anyway.
Walking on the cloven-hoofed boots took a little getting used to. Grasping anything with the claws he’d added to extend the length of his fingers was even harder. Even breathing through the black mesh over his mouth was difficult.
It will be worth it.
At least Billy hoped it would.
The short walk to Ash’s place was a trial in itself. His calves ached due to the angle he’d created for his feet to fit into the boots. Every step was on tiptoes. He could probably become a ballerina with so much practice.
As the darkness closed in on Halloween night, Billy arrived at Ash’s street. The house at the end was already jumping. Even through the thick latex mask, he could hear the music pumping from the huge sound system that was a favourite of his group and regularly used to annoy the neighbours every Saturday night. Lights glowed brightly from every window, and Billy could see shadows moving behind the thin yellow shades.
He smiled again.
This will be brilliant.
The crowds of Trick ‘r Treaters thinned out as he shambled towards the house, careful not to turn an ankle from a misplaced footstep.
Must design better hoof boots next time.
Scanning the road ahead for any potential tripping hazards, Billy’s eyes fell on the houses that lined both sides of the street. They were curiously quiet, as if the inhabitants had been forewarned about Ash’s party and vacated for the night.
Good idea. No neighbours. No one to annoy. No police.
Finally, his eyes fell on the frontage of Ash’s house. “His parents’ house,” Billy scoffed to himself. Though they were often absent, leaving Ash to run his life as he saw fit.
It was a modest two-storey affair, stereotypical for the location, with many other houses dotted around that looked almost identical.
You can always count on the Midwest to have a lack of individuality.
The white picket fence was strung with skulls. Their dark eye sockets sporting small lights that flickered in the darkness, giving them an eerie glow. Jack O Lanterns sat atop both gate posts, the electric candles inside sputtering under the command of their internal logic circuits. The bushes along the fence were strewn with spiderwebs, and beyond the gate, the house was awash with more spiderwebs, large evil-looking spiders, several more skulls, and a couple of full-size skeletons.
Someone went nuts at Home Depot. That’s for sure.
With one hand on the tiny gate, Billy reached over and carefully slid a glove-enclosed finger beneath the catch. Lifting it, he pushed with a knee and withdrew his hand, relieved that nothing caught in the mechanism. He was more frightened of damaging the costume before his big entrance than any sights he would encounter that night.
As the gate closed with a satisfying thunk and clatter, he turned and prepared himself for his big reveal. Then it occurred to him that no one was outside.
Possibly too early. No one’s been on the booze long enough to spill outside yet.
Steadying himself on his architecturally dangerous boots, he approached the stairs, scanning for an easy way to ascend without pitching over into the bushes on either side.
Just as he reached for the banister, the front door burst open, and a young girl dressed as a sexy witch exploded through the entrance. Her face was a mask of horror, with tears drawing channels in the thick makeup down her cheeks. She stumbled forward to the edge of the stairs and took one look at Billy. A scream erupted from her, causing him to reel back a couple of faltering steps.
With eyes wide in terror, the girl leapt down the short staircase, and bolted past Billy, turning right and running towards the side of the house. A moment later, the object of her horror lurched from the house and stamped down on the wooden landing.
Damn. Another demon costume.
Billy was amazed. This guy’s costume was brilliant. He took in as many details as he could while the other dude stood before him, searching all around for the sexy witch.
“Dude, that costume is bitching. Did you do it yourself or buy it?”
The other demon noticed Billy for the first time and cocked his head, looking the costumed teenager up and down for a moment, before talking in a croaky voice. “You Ashtaroth brigade?”
It took Billy a moment to disassemble the question. This guy had done his research. He even knew the name of Ashtaroth, a general in Satan’s army. Billy drew on his own understanding. Shaking his head, but careful not to dislodge any prosthetics, he replied, “No. Decarabia, Lieutenant to Belial.”
The demon dude nodded. “Follow then, soldier of Belial. The prey escapes.” With that, the demon took one step and landed on the grass in front of the house before sprinting to the right and disappearing around the side of the house. Billy admired the seamlessness of the costume, especially the way he’d constructed the cloven feet.
No way. How the hell did he get the boots to work that well?
Intrigued, Billy slowly followed. Turning the corner, he found the side yard bathed in complete darkness. No witch or demon in sight.
“Hello?”
Taking several tentative steps into the dark, he craned his ears, trying in vain to discern any sounds. Nothing but the muffled noises of the party filtering through the nearby wall.
Where the hell did they go?
With a last strained peer into the gloom, he shrugged and turned away.
Probably found a quiet spot to do the dirty.
A piercing shriek cracked through the muffled bass thrumming, spinning Billy around and forcing him further down the side yard.
Turning the corner at the end, he found the rear yard to be just as vacant, except for the strangest sight he’d seen in his entire life.
It hung in the air, a foot off the ground, a swirling vortex that looked like the eye of a hurricane shrunken and flipped vertically. It bred its own lightning, giving it depth and form within the blackened backdrop. The sight was mesmerising and Billy found himself locked in a trance, his eyes unable to tear themselves away from the strangely mystifying maelstrom.
Another scream rang out from his right. Billy turned and saw the dude dressed up as one of Ashtaroth’s acolytes struggling with the sexy witch. She beat at him with ineffectual fists, landing blow after blow on his face and chest. All Billy could focus on was the strength of the man’s costume. If she had railed on him like that, his prosthetics would have been stripped aside, exposing his horrified face.
Seemingly fed up, the demon dude thrust one taloned hand towards the girl and tore away her black lace blouse. Billy’s eyes grew wide, his attention jumping between the breasts suddenly on display and the horrible rents down her chest that bled profusely. As if smacked by a giant hand, Billy realised this was real. The dude had attacked the woman, injuring her, and was about to do who knew what.
Sucking up air to bring his courage to the fore, Billy stepped forward to assist the girl. “Hey.”
The demon’s head snapped around towards him. His mouth hung open, a long-pointed tongue lolled out, a line of drool hung several inches below the dude’s chin. “Get your own,” the man shouted before grasping the confused and injured girl by the shoulders, lifting her off the ground, and throwing her into the swirling miasma several feet away. Laughing, the demon dude took two steps, leapt into the vortex, and disappeared from view.
Billy stopped. His mouth dropped open, and all he could do was stare at the space where the two people had been seconds before. The whirlpool of colour and mist sat impassively before him, hiding its secrets and defying him to decipher them.
“What the hell just happened?” Billy said aloud, his voice sounding like another person altogether and simply adding to the confusion in his mind. One part told him to go inside the house and seek help, another told him it would take too long. Dragging another deep breath to puff up his chest and draw on any residual courage deep inside him, he searched the area. Ten yards away lay the perfect item.
Stumbling quickly to an old oak stump that Ash’s father used to cut wood, Billy prized the long axe from its resting place and hefted it with two hands. It was heavy. It was relatively sharp. It would either cut or bludgeon the demon dude if Billy swung it hard enough.
Sidling up to the vortex, Billy took another deep breath, nodded to himself, and stepped forward.
***
Midwest USA fled before Billy’s eyes, replaced by a land that had seen carnage for a thousand years. The sky was a broiling mass of blood-red clouds, with bolts of crimson fire arcing across them as if besieged by a murderous lightning storm.
The land rolling off into the distance before him was the harshest desert scape imaginable. Devoid of living trees or any form of live growth for as far as the eye could see, it consisted of deadwood, rocks, and dirt plains hewn apart with zig-zagging earthen trenches. The air was filled with a turmoil of moaning, as if a million voices cried out in anguish as their bodies suffered utter humiliation and agony on countless torture machines.
The word formed in Billy’s mind. The only word that could describe such a place.
Hell! I’m in Hell.
He turned back and saw the swirling vortex still hanging in the air before him.
If I’m in Hell, then that is … His mind replayed the line he’d seen on the internet, “the point where the veil between worlds is at its thinnest.”
Staring at the currents churning in the strange portal, Billy realised another fact.
It will disappear at midnight, only to return in a year. I need to leave. I need to tell people.
As he stepped back towards the gateway, a figure sprawled through, knocking Billy to one side and collapsing in a heap in the dirt. Slowly, the figure raised himself to his knees and stared up at Billy. His mouth gaped, and his eyes grew wide. Despite the blood trickling down the man’s head, Billy knew him at once.
Ash.
Ash only saw a demon. He threw up his hands and screamed before Billy could say anything. He moved towards his friend to try and comfort him, but stopped when a taloned hand erupted from the doorway.
A huge demon stepped through, landing lightly near Ash. It took one look at the screaming man and lashed out with the back of his hand, sending Ash face-first into the dirt.
“Shut up, human.”
Billy couldn’t move. He simply stared at the tall demonic figure, his eyes wide in terror behind his mask. The demon reached down, grasped Ash by the neck, and picked him up like a child’s toy. Turning, it finally noticed Billy.
“You pretty small. Why you here?”
Unsure how to answer or what to even say, Billy simply held the axe forward. The tall demon’s eyes dropped to the weapon, and its face twisted into a wicked parody of a smile.
“Ha! Human weapon. Good. You come with me. We can have some fun with this one.”
As the demon marched on, with Ash thrashing and struggling in its grasp, Billy glanced around to orientate himself and meekly followed, his mind racing to try and make sense of it all.
Within a few moments, they entered a small, clear area between the rocks. The demon strode to the centre and dropped Ash into the dirt.
“Get up,” it shouted with a thunderous voice that brought Ash to attention.
As it began to circle Ash, the demon’s taloned hands closed and opened. A grumbling sound, like two rocks scraping together as they were crushed, emanated from its throat. Billy realised the creature was chuckling to itself.
With a blur of movement and a sudden scream, Billy saw Ash’s shirt disappear. His bare chest sporting four slash marks that bled profusely. Ash screamed in pain and teetered on his faltering feet.
“Stand,” came the booming voice.
Despite the pain, Ash obeyed, standing ramrod straight and causing more blood to issue from his wounds.
Another slash created a four-lined hashtag across Ash’s chest and midriff. His friend’s screams pierced through the undertone of moaning, searing through Billy’s mind and threatening his sanity. It was the stuff of nightmares. As Ash’s fight against gravity began to fail, he staggered forward only to be caught by the throat in one taloned claw, his screams cut off immediately. The demon’s chuckling rang out once more, the grinding sound of rocks crushed to sand drowned out the constant sound of moaning.
“Not yet. You can rest eternal soon.”
Drawing Ash up to eye level, the demon stared deep into his soul.
“You belong here. Your sins are many. You will face eternal punishment. But first, a little fun.”
With its free hand, the demon pushed two talons into one of the squares carved into Ash’s chest. The boy’s eyes bulged with pain; his cheeks puffed with a scream that could never surface. Billy felt the surge of agony writhe through Ash’s body as the demon plucked the square of flesh from his victim’s chest. Blood gushed from the rent, spraying the monster, who simply chuckled some more.
It held up the cube of human meat and sniffed it before plopping it into its mouth and chewing thankfully.
“Ah, young humans have such sweet flesh.”
When the bloodied talons were pushed into another square of skin, Billy could take no more. He had never been a hero, but seeing his friend tortured brought every vigilante fantasy to life.
Raising the axe, he ran forward and brought it down with every ounce of his strength.
And it worked.
The demon dropped Ash, who flopped to one side and fell face-first into the red dirt. Billy sprang forward, planting one foot on the demon’s neck and grasped the handle of the axe. It had buried deep, splitting the demon’s skull in two and slicing deep into its brain. Rocking the handle back and forth, Billy finally prized the axe out of the creature’s head.
Always cut the head off.
It had been a mantra he’d screamed at every final girl in almost every horror movie he’d ever seen. Always cut the head off of the killer, just to make sure.
The axe swung again, slicing deep into the demon’s neck. Two more whacks and the horrid creature’s neck split apart, and its head rolled away, staring back at Billy with a fixed look of confusion and shock.
A groan of pain from nearby shook Billy from his own trauma. He ran to Ash and helped him to his feet. His friend was in agony, but there was nothing here to help him with.
“We got to get to the portal.”
It wasn’t far, and Billy had carefully memorised the path they’d taken. Within a couple of minutes, they spied the swirling vortex.
“You first. I’ll be right behind you.”
As Ash disappeared through the portal, Billy stared around, making sure that nothing had followed them. Convinced, he turned to re-enter the real world.
A woman’s scream echoed across the wasteland. It sounded familiar.
The witch?
Billy agonised over his next decision. The swirling vortex beckoned, promising a return to his life. Ash probably needed his help as well. Another scream echoed from far away, the sound hounded his mind, stirring something in his chest so that his heart pounded against his ribcage. Even though he didn’t know the girl, he knew he couldn’t leave her to whatever fate awaited.
Turning, Billy scanned the blasted landscape. Smoke billowed in the far distance from unseen fires. He tried not to imagine what fuel they used. There was scant little around, just the odd broken and dead husk of a tree. His thoughts brought forth images of pyres in full flame fed by the souls of the damned, or the bodies of humans pulled through vortexes similar to the one he’d arrived by.
Taking a deep breath, he hefted the axe in both hands and once more glanced across the area. His ears pricking to pick out the sounds of the woman’s cries above the drone of wailing souls. There it was. His head cocked to the right.
Without another thought, he moved to the edge of the little clearing towards two outcrops of rock that delved down into a small valley beyond. Experience from his younger days as a Boy Scout came to the fore, and he dragged the axe across the dirt, drawing an arrow that pointed back towards the vortex. He would repeat the action as he continued on, so that he had a trail to head back along.
For what seemed like hours, he moved through the labyrinthine system of valleys and canyons, stopping to draw more arrows or listen for any cries of anguish. Sweat poured down his face and body, threatening to loosen the pieces of his costume and expose him for the human he was. That fear only added to the problem.
As he crested a small rise that led up from a narrow valley, another cry rang out. It was loud and close. The source was in a small clearing ringed by steep walls, with the husks of several dead trees lining the lip of the canyon. Hunkering down, he approached carefully and peered into the depression below.
There she was.
She knelt in the dirt. Her clothes long gone. Her body bathed in a thin covering of the red dirt, which crusted on the lines of congealed blood. Her face was a mask of terror, tears drew tracks down her cheeks, exposing the soft white skin below the dirt. She held up her hands in an ineffectual act of fending off her tormentors and whimpered and cried as they hounded her.
There were two demons. Circling her and prodding and poking at her with their evil, taloned hands. Each success drew another bead of blood that ran through the dust and quickly turned into a crusted line of blood and dirt.
Billy crab crawled across to one of the tree stumps and knelt to give himself a better view. For all intents and purposes, he was hidden. The demons were too infatuated with their plaything to even bother to look around.
That was when Billy saw the third.
He was partially hidden by the sunken paths that led to the clearing and stood on guard about twenty yards from where Billy hid. Why they needed a lookout, Billy didn’t understand, but could only assume that the three demons wanted to protect their fun from others of their kind.
The guard needed to be removed first. Quietly. Before Billy dealt with the other two.
As he stood to move away, Billy saw a broken branch lying at the base of the tree. Its length and wicked point made it a natural weapon. Too many hours playing online games taught him that you should always have a backup weapon. Picking the spear up, he moved backwards and skirted around until he dropped down into the little valley that led to the lookout’s location.
Within a few yards, Billy turned a corner and found himself staring directly at the guard. They locked eyes for a moment, before the guard demon made a sweeping motion to Billy for him to back off. Standing his ground, Billy shook his head, which enraged the demon guard. It took one look back at the other two playing with the girl, before stepping towards Billy’s position.
Drawing the guard with him, Billy stepped backwards and rounded the corner so that he was hidden from view in case the other two glanced up. When he was far enough back, he stopped and waited.
The guard turned the corner and spat a string of unintelligible vitriol at Billy. Every trace of meekness had left Billy’s mind. He was in Hell. This was a demon. It only wanted to harm him, and its friends were besieging the human girl. It didn’t occur to him at the time, but his positioning mimicked one of his favourite computer games, except he didn’t have a double-barrelled shotgun.
But he did have weapons.
Dropping the spear, he stepped forward, swinging the axe high into the air, and bringing it down just as the demon came into range. A perfect move. Demons weren’t as tough as they had been written about in literature.
The guard went down like a sack of potatoes. His head cleaving open and spilling a black, putrid mess across the dry, red dirt. Levering the axe from its victim, Billy retrieved the spear and moved back to the corner. The other two were still engaged with the poor woman. Her screams hadn’t abated during the entire time Billy had been there.
These two had to die as well. His mind was set on saving that girl.
Grasping the axe in his left hand, he picked up the spear and held it pressed into his right side by his elbow so that he had the most control he could conjure. Entering the clearing, slowly at first to make as little noise as possible, Billy sized up the demons. Both had their backs to him, bent over their prey, slashing at her with single talons to draw blood and cries of pain. It seemed that they wanted this game to go on for as long as possible.
Billy aimed to finish it now.
With less than ten yards between him and the creatures, Billy pushed off and sprinted. He had never been fast, and even with the hindrance of his hoof-boots, was able to reach top speed within a couple of seconds. The spear slammed into the demon on the right, driving through its back, bursting through its stomach, and spraying the girl with black ichor and silencing her screams for a moment as she gaped in shock.
Without waiting, Billy let go of the spear and grabbed the axe with his right hand, quickly swinging it high and slamming it down on the left-hand demon. The monster was quick and ducked backwards slightly, the axe merely slicing down its face before dropping to the ground and almost unbalancing Billy.
Howling in pain, the demon grasped at the gaping wound in its face. Black blood spewed forth from the slash, spraying across the red dust as the demon staggered about and howled in pain.
Fearful that these new sounds would attract attention, Billy swung the axe upwards, collecting the demon under its chin, and shearing through its jaw. The creature gagged on the flood of black blood that spilled from its ravaged throat and dropped to all fours as it struggled to breathe. The axe turned to a downward journey, burying itself in the horned head and driving the hell spawn creature face-first into the dirt floor of the clearing.
What passed for silence in that place descended on the area. Billy stared down at the fallen creatures and sucked in breath. A whimper from behind reminded him why he was there. Turning, he ran to the girl.
“Come on, we’ve got to get you out of here.”
He spied the torn witch’s dress nearby and picked it up. Pulling it around the girl, in an attempt to save some form of modesty, he led her towards the entrance to the clearing. Remembering his weapon, Billy stopped, raced back to the fallen demon and prized the axe out of its head, before running back to the girl.
Once he found his markers, the journey back to the vortex was simple.
Speaking to the bewildered girl, he said, “This is how we got in here. You need to go through.” Her blank expression twisted into grimaces every time a bolt of pain wracked her body, but showed no comprehension. Instead of waiting, he simply guided her to the portal and pushed her unceremoniously through, hoping that there were no more demons on the other side waiting for her.
As he prepared to enter the vortex, his sight dropped to the axe. He thought about leaving it behind to bury any memories of this place, but decided, that, like him, it didn’t belong in this world.
Stepping forward, his life repeated itself as another cry stopped him in his tracks.
Turning, he realised it wasn’t another helpless victim of the demonic denizens of this place, but one of the creatures themselves.
It stood before him. The tip of the makeshift spear poking through its belly, leaking black blood onto the dusty ground. The demon pointed at him, its face a mix of rage and pain, and stepped forward, spreading its taloned fingers wide in readiness to attack.
I can escape.
Billy backed towards the vortex.
But that thing will only follow. More innocents could be in danger.
Planting his feet, Billy grasped the axe in readiness. The demon sprang forward, slashing at the boy with wrath on its lips. The spear’s far end snagged between two protruding rocks and caught the demon in mid-flight. The sharpened stick tore from its body, halting the demon’s progress and dropping it into the dirt. It struggled to drag itself to hands and knees, before Billy was on it.
The demon’s last sight was the axe head swinging down.
Letting out an exhausted breath, Billy pulled the axe free and turned towards the vortex. He screamed as it suddenly reduced in size and disappeared from view with a loud snap.
Dropping the axe, he fumbled with the arms of his costume and revealed his watch. The digital display read, “12:00AM.”
Midnight. Damn it.
He was stuck. The vortex would be gone for another year. Looking around the shattered land of demons and hell spawn, terror ran up Billy’s back. A year. He had to survive another year before he could return to his own world.
Thoughts raced through his mind. Survival the main one. It was a real-life computer game.
I need shelter. Food. More weapons. Then I have to wait. And survive.
Taking a deep breath, he bent and picked up the axe.
I am a demon. And I will survive.
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